I was in grad school and my commitee said that, while my paintings were okay, what they really liked was watching me talk about them. I became a video artist. I chose to use the vlog format like a painter, as art. That is, I was more concerned with effect and evocation than I was with transmitting information. This quickly meant effects camera effects, edits, glitches, and eventually lots of motion graphics. These four episodes showcase that period. My computer died after episode 88 (removed by Youtube without notification) and all I had was a smart phone, I put aside the heady, maybe even snobby idea of creating art-vlogs and just focused on making engaging video. As an artist, of course this took me to those same experiments and forms that I love so much.

The Art-Vlog Skrauss Speaks, You Listen was never scripted. I recorded myself speaking, sometimes for hours, and edited the best parts together. Then added effects. Each one completed in a week and posted, flaws and all.

Above left is episode two of the actual vlog, but not my first youtube video. (My first video was uploaded around 04-06, before Gooogle purchased the platform). I clearly don't know what my purpose is in this one. I started with a costume, a navy flight suit that I pulled out of a bag of rags in after steering on board the USS Vandegrift.

Above Right I don the hotdog suit to discuss magick. I was interested in altering reality magically, but also aware how absolutely ridiculous it was. This was the first time I attempted any magical working.

Below are two of my favourites. on the left i showcase my work with Hollywood actor Mark Metcalf, who was a fixture in the Milwuakee film scene for many years. I actually did apear in a film with him (John Roberts' "The Wheel" on vimeo) but in the vlog I edited my head onto sara Michelle Geller's body and thus myself into the scene where Metcalf kills Buffy. Or me. It's the unseen alternate reality version of the show, possibly called Biff the Vampire Slayer.

Below to the right is an episode filmed in a three camera panorama. Interesting to me was the distortion between frames. I think I'm lambasting feminism in that one. I don't recall.

All the episodes below (except the first one, episode 87, Big Orange Girder Thing) are filmed, and edited using only a tablet of a phone. I love this kind of technology. Had I this opportunity to create videos when I was 14, oh my goodness! I can only imagine the glory that I may have achieved. But here they are now my vlog. In someways avoiding superimpositions and tracking tricks allow me to come closer to engaging the audience. I'm still working on this. One think that I'v enoticed is that the episodes often improve when I refine them down to one minute for Instagram. Check that out and follow if you have less time for art.